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Nice write up. Yes, I couldn't agree more. I guess it's the potential for abuse where things get really complicated, not so much the biological and mechanical side of sex- which makes even more baffling to see being avoided as a topic. Getting a child to understand the many ways they are vulnerable is certainly difficult no matter the topic.
Glad to know nothing happened to you, scary to see how easily someone could get groomed online. I've had a close call with a pedophile when I was a kid, in spite of being well aware of sex in many ways at that age, but at the time I didn't recognize his attempt at manipulation for what it was- precisely because there was no mention of anything sexual at all. I got really lucky that nothing happened to me either, and walked out if it absolutely oblivious to everything, but unlike you I do owe some of that to good parenting though. A few years later when I remembered the incident and realized what had been going on it hit me like a truck. An "oh shit" moment.
I didn't reflect on all of this until my 20's. I coach girls from around 8-18 years old, and the standards for interacting with kids nowadays means you have to take a lot of abuse training courses. That coupled with watching the girls I coach try to navigate social media and coming of age made me realise how abnormal my own upbringing was.
Its crazy how protective I feel about these kids that aren't even my own. But looking back on the dangers lurking in the corners, I know how important it is to keep kids in the loop. Not to scare them, or try to keep them isolated. But safety starts with communicating freely with the safe adults in your life. I think things are trending towards more quality information about sex being readily available. Most (non religious) parents seem to realize they need to raise confident kids that they have an open dialogue about important things with.